Looking around in Austin at the various 'yoga classes', it saddens me to see what looks like aerobics, exercise,
acrobatics being passed off as yoga. Just because the word 'yoga' is added or 'poses' are thrown in does not make it yoga.
No way, not even by a long stretch of imagination. What has transpired and so quickly? The authenticity, purity of yoga is
sadly missing. I have been shocked, horrified, dazed and stunned with what 'yoga' is being propagated as. If I had not seen
this with my own eyes, I would not believe it! There is no semblance of yoga. It has become unrecognizable!

The cause? Yoga being sold down the river. Profiteering taking over. Too many yoga teacher training courses taught
for commercial gains. Taught by those not knowledgeable in yoga. The practices from the different branches of yoga are not
known. Nor are the aims of the branches of yoga known. Yoga philosophy, physiology, psychology, ecology, applied yogic science
is not known. Safety of practices, nor how to teach yoga practices and to whom is not known. Nor the ultimate aim of yoga
known, or a pretense of knowing theoretically, for if one looks at what goes on in such a class, it is the antithesis of yoga's
aims. Call it fitness, why call it yoga. Why destroy yoga? For that is exactly what is happening. Yoga is being mangled and
morphed into something quite, quite different. Into something quite unrecognizable.

Yoga
has become boga. A pun on the words, bogus and 'bhoga' referring to the senses in Sanskrit. The blind leading the blind. Then
people graduating such teacher training courses are then let loose on society to propagate this to yet others! My, oh my,
oh my! People are being hurt physically, mentally, energetically, emotionally, spiritually. There is more distraction, dissipation,
restlessness, more disharmony, less equanimity, more running to externals, more of instant sense gratification, more deviant
behavior, seeking that which can only be found within. Peace that exists only within.

Wake up
people, we are here, those of us who actually teach authentic yoga, with training from authentic, knowledgeable sources, those
in the yoga lineage, whose origins are divine; to whom the science of yoga was revealed for reasons of compassion for human pain and suffering and an eye on the well-being and progress of the individual, in deep states
of meditation; not on profiteering or the commercialization of 'yoga', but who actually teach authentic
yoga. For what do we take with us at the end of the day, nothing but our karmas. We who have trained from such authentic sources
of true yoga are here and we welcome you.

1st stage: Yoga Practice
is mainly where the aim is a health issue, personal therapy purpose, fitness purpose, or for stress relief. This drops off
when this aim is accomplished. Then resumes when the issue recurs, then stops again when the aim is achieved, & so on,
on/off, yoga remains a practice.

2nd stage: when yoga is undertaken regularly for the aim
that it is meant for, as decided by yoga, not by us, then yoga becomes a sadhana. Take the aim "chitta vritti nirodhaha", when yoga is practiced with this aim of Raja Yoga, then it will not be an on/off
practice, but it will be a sadhana practiced regularly taking us towards this aim. In this same way, Hatha yoga, Gyana yoga,
Nada yoga, Bhakti yoga, Karma yoga, Kriya yog, Kundalini yoga, Laya yoga has its own aim, not an aim dictated by us, then
yoga becomes a sadhana. When yoga is practiced with the intention of acquiring the aspiration as defined by yoga, then we
become a yoga sadhaka.

However, if you continue to practice yoga for your own personal fulfillment,
then yoga remains a practice. But when practiced with the aim of yoga, it becomes a sadhana.

3rd
stage: As sadhana when one begins to perceive & experience the qualitative changes in us, & we begin to express that
in life, it becomes a lifestyle. When the material & spiritual aspirations are balanced. All performances & acts are
guided by the understanding of the appropriate behavior. This is yoga as a lifestyle.

4th
stage: When one is established in yoga, it becomes an effortless expression of us, even in sleep, then we express the yogic
samskaras, yogic culture, after x number of years, then yoga is endowed in us, we manifest yoga.

Yoga is not a mechanical practice. It is a practice that is to be applied in every expression of human life &
existence. It is a knowledge, a wisdom that is applied in order to improve the quality of our own existence.

Yoga is a lifestyle; not only to be practiced for an hour or so daily, but to live the attitude of yoga.

At the end of our life, we will then go as an enlightened being & return as visionaries, not ignorant. The material
& spiritual will be integrated more cohesively. To co-exist peacefully as human beings, fulfilling Sri Krishna's statement
"Tasmai yogi bhavan."

The Srimad Bhagavad Gita is known as the
Gita. It is a part of the great epic called the Mahabharata, literally meaning 'the great India'. This book has ruled over
the minds of Indian thinkers and statesmen for many, many centuries. For Indian people it involves not only one hour, but
their whole life. It is a philosophy which the Indian mind understands very quickly.

The
Gita begins in a dramatic way. About 5000 years ago there lived two fraternities belonging to the same family, known as the
'five brothers' and the 'hundred brothers'. The hundred brothers, who were the ruling authorities, endeavoured to gain complete
control of the kingdom by refusing to allow the five brothers their rightful share. The problem became such a vital one that
ultimately both parties prepared for a great war to decide the issue. Finally, the day came when they met each other on the
battlefield supported by their great armies.

The commander-in-chief
of the hundred brothers was a very grand, powerful and noble man called Bhisma. The commander-in-chief of the army of the
five brothers was called Arjuna. Although he was third among the five brothers, he became commander-in-chief by virtue of
his being a great warrior. The driver of his chariot was Sri Krishna, known as one of the great incarnations of the Lord.

When we talk about the Gita we must make a direct reference to Krishna
because he revealed the Gita to Arjuna, and unless you know the complete life of Krishna right up to the point of his death,
the meaning of the Gita will remain obscure. From the time of his birth, Krishna faced nothing but grievances and difficulties.
Day after day he fought battles and faced his enemies. But from the day he was born until the day he died, there was not one
day he did not laugh. In Indian mythology you will find Krishna as a mischievous child at home, as a young boy playing in
the fields with the cowherd boys and girls, as a statesman giving expert advice, as a warrior fighting in battle and as a
guru giving absolute lessons on yoga and other sciences.

When both the armies
were facing each other, the virtuous Arjuna suddenly felt great apprehension and sorrow. Realizing that he would be killing
his own .family members, he refused to fight, preferring to renounce than to face the battle. It is at this point that the
philosophy of the Gita begins.

Eternal battle
of life

Lord Krishna tells Arjuna that
a person has to face life, accept it and fight at every step. Those who expect everything to be comfortable and to their liking
will always suffer difficulties. Accept life in whatever way it comes to you. Try to get the best out of it by way of philosophy,
understanding or through wisdom. Everybody is working to fulfil their own great ambitions and desires. If they are fulfilled,
you are happy, but at the same time afraid because maybe next time they will be lost to you. If your desires remain unfulfilled,
you are completely broken. Herein begin the problems of life, whether mental, psychological or emotional.

This
is the eternal battle that you have to face and fight, that everybody is fighting from birth until death. These five and one
hundred brothers symbolize the two great conflicting forces in everybody. In order to progress, conflict is necessary. Without
these opposing forces, you cannot evolve. Comfort and pleasure are death because they do not give you any kind of push to
go ahead in your life. Difficulties and problems are actually the accelerators of human evolution. Therefore, you have to
create and confront the conflict continually,' only then will the soul evolve. Divine and spiritual knowledge comes to one
who accepts and understands the nature of conflict.

Between these two
opposing forces present in everyone, there is one Lord Krishna, who is the charioteer or driver of the car. His body is the
chariot. He is the inner soul or guru helping everybody in this conflict. Although he is not directly involved in the fight,
he is behind it, creating it so that the soul or individual consciousness will evolve. We must understand the Gita in this
context. Of these two conflicting forces in human life, one force must be subdued and the other expressed. Conflict has to
be faced with an aspiration and background of yoga. When conflict begins in you, the only thing you should do is understand
it and begin to practise yoga. Yoga concerns itself with the evolution of individual consciousness from the lower planes to
the highest realms.

The starting point
of yoga

Yoga has a definite beginning
and it progresses according to the evolution of consciousness. There is a stage when yoga comes to a point of culmination,
not termination. The name of the first chapter of the Gita is 'The Yoga of Dejection'. There are many yogas: hatha yoga, bhakti
yoga, karma yoga, tantra yoga, nada yoga, jnana yoga, and so on. But have you ever heard of the yoga of dejection, the yoga
of disappointment, frustration and breakdown? Yoga begins, not when you turn the mala, but when the scales are heavly loaded
against you, when you are facing overwhelming problems. Unless your soul faces conflicts, unless your mind faces difficulties
and disappointments, it will not become active. It will live like a pig, absolutely contented and satisfied with sleeping
continually.

Don't consider these problems as external
ones. The Gita is not talking about material problems or the basic necessities of life such as food and clothing. It is talking
about those problems which psychologists are also taking about today; the deep-rooted problems concerning your inner personality
which are as deep as the subterranean planes of the ocean. You may say that you have no problems, but I don't believe it because
it is impossible to exist without them. This duality or two contradictory souls are working side by side in everybody except
the most enlightened sage. It is known as the starting point of yoga. Once we have become aware of these two great conflicting
forces, we are faced with the problem of what to do with them - whether to try and eliminated them, criticize or analyze them,
or cry and scream over them. Don't try to put a covering over the struggles and battles within you. Whether you are a good
person or a bad person, a person full of passion or one with criminal tendencies, you must understand what is inside you.

Modern psychology has brought to our notice that there are thousands and
thousands of people on this blessed earth who do not want to know what they are because the moment they discover their own
nature, they react with fear and disbelief. This is the greatest thing holding man back. Each and every item, whether it is
birth or death, loss or gain, praise or criticism, love or hatred, conflict or peace, passion or anger, lurking in the depths
of your consciousness must become well known to you. This is the Gita's second piece of advice.

Practical
yoga

Even if you discover and understand your own conflicts or problems, they still remain with you.
For this reason you have to begin sadhana - the practical side of yoga. In the Gita, sadhana begins with karma yoga, the yoga
of action. You have to transform your karma, your daily activities in such a way that they are conducive to your spiritual
progress. You are expressing yourself through action, thus unburdening your soul. Side by side with karma yoga, you should
practise raja yoga, then bhakti yoga, then jnana yoga, in order to be victorious in battle and eliminate the conflicts that
are lurking in your personality. When you mind is completely free from the influence of conflicts, then you are a liberated
person, a jivanmukta.

The concept of liberation according
to the Gita is not when you close your eyes, withdraw your mind and enter into the great void. This experience is not related
to actual life. The Gita adds a new dimension to liberation. It is living life without being affected by it at any time, or
at any cost. It is detachment in the midst of the holocaust.

When
you face this illogical life, the great void is completely eliminated. You don't know what samadhi means. In the Gita, it
says that salvation is related to your love, your hatred, frustrations and accomplishments. People think 'I am Brahman, full
of bliss. I am part of that consciousness', but come down to normal life and fight with their wife or husband. Complete freedom
should be brought upon earth, into one's daily life. It should not be restricted to the meditation room - it must come into
your kitchen and be expressed when you are working in a shop, driving a motor car or when you are about to face an emotional
crisis.

To experience complete freedom in every walk of
life, meditation for one hour is not enough. You need a completely reoriented philosophy, a retrained and a healthy mind and
a cultured way of thinking with new dimensions of awareness. Renunciation is not freedom. According to the Gita, abstaining
and refraining from your duties and responsibilities is living a half life. The yoga of the Gita is known as poorna yoga -
complete yoga. If you lay stress on bhakti yoga, for example, and say, "No hatha yoga, it is only for sick people; no
raja yoga, it is only for swamis; no karma yoga, no jnana yoga; only signing the name of the Lord, playing the drum and dancing"
- this is called apoorna yoga.

It is yoga, but it is not complete. In the same way as you have a nice mixture of people
or colours, you must also have a good combination of yoga because you are not one - your personality is composed of four essential
elements: dynamism, devotion, mysticism and rationalism. This is called complete nutrition in life. According to these needs,
you should practise karma yoga for dynamism, bhakti yoga for emotions or devotion, raja yoga or tantra yoga etc. for mysticism
and jnana yoga or Vedanta for rationalism.

Philosophy
of Gita

When you want to imbibe the
philosophy of the Gita in your daily life, just remember these few points. First of all work hard. Expect things, but if they
don't come, you should not be broken. You must be courageous and again go on with new ventures. Next the mind must be balanced,
but it should be a spontaneous culmination of the process of karma yoga. Whatever yoga you practise, never forget the central
consciousness or atman within you. It is cosmic, infinite and the source of all your yogas. As a yoga practitioner, both dynamism
- your work, accomplishments and ambitions - and yogic life must be practised side by side.

Finally,
don't condemn any phase of life because they are all phases of consciousness and not devoid of consciousness. If you condemn
anyone's life, a householder's life or a sannyasin's life or even a drunkard's life, you are creating a sickness in your mind.
Whether a person is sick, great or helpless, Krishna says in the Gita that they are all his different points of evolution,
the different corners of his great picture. If you practise your hatha yoga, karma yoga, bhakti yoga, etc. with this broad
and liberal attitude to life, you will not only be successful in very way, you will also gain enlightenment.

Contentment does not come from achievement. It comes from a sense of enlightenment
and it is because of yoga. Likewise, everyone of you must try, you must have an experiment with yoga. I assure you that if
the world has failed you, if your family and friends have failed you, perhaps if your own body and your own promises have
failed you - there is one thing that will never fail you and that's yoga. You can definitely take this from me as a very bold
pronouncement.

In 1956, Swami Sivananda called Swami Satyananda and said "Rishikesh is too small for you. You have to go out into
the world and bring the message of yoga from door to door and shore to shore." Swami satyananda said to Swami Sivananda,
"You are giving me this order but I have no background in yoga." Swami Sivananda siad, " I will teach you."
In fifteen minutes Swami Siviananda gave shaktipath to Swami Satyananda into the yoga tradition and culture." Only a
capable guru can transmit knowledge to a capable disciple through shaktipath. Only the wire with the capacity to carry the
highest electrical current without burning or fusing can be the recipient of high voltage.

A modern rishi

Armed
with the grace and the shaktipath of Swami Sivananda, Swami Satyananda started the development of yoga. His contributions
in the field of yoga are manifold. He systematized pranayama as vitalizing, tranquillizing and balancing practices. Previously,
pranayama was taboo. Pople only knew about nadi shodhana which in traditional language was called anuloma viloma, inhalation
and exhalation. He created a system to the practices of asanas, where on starts with pawanmuktasana, not with the headstand,
and prepares the body to allow the vital energies to flow. He classified the techiques of pratyahara and developed the techniques
of yoga nidra, antar mouna and ajapa japa. Swami Satyananda has redefined the yoga we know today, and history will consider
him as a modern rishi of a greater calibre than Patanjali. Patanjali wrote only one thesis on raja yoga; Swatmarama wrote
only one book on hatha yoga. Swami Satyananda was successful in presenting the whole system and tradition of yoga in a practical
understandable, modern and scientific manner.